


The Flash of Two Worlds

by ThatsAStepLadder



Category: DCU (Comics), The Flash (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Episode: s02e20 Endgame, F/M, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Major Character Undeath, Multiverse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Crisis (DCU), Post-Endgame, Speed Force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-04 14:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18345959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatsAStepLadder/pseuds/ThatsAStepLadder
Summary: Wally West is Kid Flash, the fourth fastest man alive, maybe fifth depending on how you're counting. To his girlfriend, friends, and family, he's also dead, having been sucked into a dimension made entirely out of speed. Not exactly the best-case scenario.Wally West is the Flash, the fastest man alive, proud husband and father, and self-appointed defender of Keystone City. He's no stranger to weird happenings, and then, one day, a younger version of himself shows up at his doorstep, searching for an "Artemis."A little bit of post-Endgame shenanigans, a touch of angst, and a good heaping spoonful of plot, all tossed into a blender and flavored with some Waid/Johns-era Flash Family fun.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Something not-Ladybug related? GASP! Mark Waid's run on The Flash is one of my favorite comic runs of all time, and Young Justice is one of my favorite cartoons of all time, so it only made sense to combine the two and do my boy Wally some justice. *grumble grumble Dan DiDio Sanctuary grumble grumble*

“He loved you.”

 

Wally could hear Bart’s words to Artemis echoing as he slipped away from the fabric of reality, leaving everything he ever knew behind. He’d done it. He’d stopped the Reach machines, but at a terrible cost. 

 

Somehow, after all these years of being “not fast enough,” he’d finally done it. He’d outran all of them. Jay, Bart, even Barry. He’d broken the sound barrier, the light barrier, and the existence barrier, apparently. They’d be proud if he wasn’t dead to them. Not that he was actually  _ dead- _ dead, only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. For one thing, mostly dead is still slightly alive. And he was definitely still alive.

 

He had to find his way back from… wherever he was. He needed to. Artemis’ heart would break in two if he didn’t - would she move on if he was gone long enough?  _ Don’t think about it, West. Think happy thoughts. Souvenirs. Brucely. Big Belly Burger… _ nope, not working. New plan.

 

Around Wally coalesced spirals of brilliant light, on occasion forming into humanoid figures for a few picoseconds before dissipating again. It would be a brilliant view, if he could stop and admire it. As it was, he couldn’t seem to stop running.  _ You know what else was a brilliant view? Artemis’s bedhead in the mornings.. God damn it!  _

 

Try as he might, he couldn’t help but be plagued with thoughts of the blonde archer, the spitfire who’d stolen his heart. With every step he took against the rainbow-colored path that seemed to form under his feet as he ran, the tug on his heartstrings grew stronger.

 

_ What if she  _ did  _ move on? Well, guess I’m dead, so I wouldn’t blame her. Then what if I came back and she was-  _ Wally’s brows knit together underneath his goggles. That couldn’t happen. He couldn’t let it happen. He had to get home, get back to  _ her.  _ But how?

 

The road before him seemed endless, with no light at the end of the tunnel, either metaphorical or literal. He’d been running for God knows how long now at speeds unfathomable by any sane person, and yet he wasn’t sore… or hungry. Usually he’d be starving by now. What  _ was  _ this place?

 

The figures of light appeared around him again, running in stride with him, keeping perfect pace as he ran. Were they figments of his imagination, conjured up to keep him from going stir-crazy while he was trapped here? Or were they something more? Maybe they lived here, and one of them could give him a ride back to Keystone. Or hell, even to Blue Valley. 

 

Unfortunately, there seemed to be no end in sight to wherever he was, and no landmarks for Wally to guide himself by. Just stunning vistas of red and blue and purple, as far as the eye could see. It was like some psychedelic sunset, stretched out in three hundred and sixty degrees.

 

The figures of light seemed to blend right in with their surroundings, their proximity and roughly human shape the only thing setting them apart from the energy. Lightning crackled at their feet as they ran on either side of Wally, leaving a trail of sparks in their wake. 

 

Wally looked over each shoulder at them - whatever they were - and grinned. “So…” he said. “You guys come here often, or-”

 

No response. Shocker.

 

Well, at least he had company, even if they weren’t much for small talk. They ran another few miles with Wally - or a few hundred, who could really tell - before dissipating into the ether once more. All except for one, a blur of sky-blue energy who, for some reason or another, had decided to carry on.

 

Wally locked eyes - or, at least, where he presumed the eyes would be if this energy-being had them - with it for a brief second.

 

Then, it winked at him.

 

He did a double-take, unable to believe his eyes. This  _ thing,  _ whatever it was, had to be a figment of his imagination. Why else would it  _ wink _ ? He’d lost his mind. He was going crazy already.  _ Boy, that didn’t take long. Seeing things already. _

 

And if the wink wasn’t enough, the blue energy hallucination, right before Wally’s eyes, reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder. His hand was warm for a hallucination’s. Not that Wally would really know what a hallucination’s hand would normally feel like, but he could wager a reasonable guess that this wasn’t it.

 

Not only did the touch feel warm, but it was undeniably human, or a reasonable substitute. He’d expected that touching one of these beings would feel like getting blasted by lightning from Weather Wizard’s wand, not like when Jay put his hand on his shoulder and said-   
  
“Kid.”

 

Okay, now the maybe-hallucination was talking. Wally’s heart began to race a million miles a minute faster than it already was, even as his breakneck pace began to… slow down? How in the world was he slowing down? He’d tried to stop. Multiple times, and no dice. But now he was?

 

He skidded to a stop, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. The blue hallucination was gone in a flash - pun fully intended - before Wally could even begin to figure out what was going on. How was he able to stop now?

 

He looked around to get his bearings, not that there was anything for him to navigate by. A frown came over his features, and he let out a sigh. Great. He was trapped here, and going crazy. He needed a plan to get back home.  _ Back to Artemis. _

 

He began to pace the same few miles back and forth at super-speed, trying to come up with something, anything. From what he could tell, he was trapped in some sort of weird pocket dimension made entirely out of speed. How was that useful? He had no idea.

 

_ I wish Dick was here. Dick’s good at plans. What would Dick do? Have a plan, probably. Maybe he’s figuring out how to get me out of here right this instant. _

 

Wally started to mull over his options. If his hypothesis was correct, then he’d gone fast enough  back in the Arctic to vibrate his molecules from Earth’s dimension into this one. Just like Barry could vibrate his molecules to phase through solid matter. Given that, all he had to do was go fast enough to pierce the barrier back to Earth. Except he’d just tried that, and it didn’t work. Onto plan B.

 

There was no plan B. 

 

Wally ran his hands up through his hair, pulling his cracked goggles off and tossing them into a river of purple energy. They weren’t doing him much good anyway. He turned on his heel to start another cycle of pacing and-

 

“Something wrong, kid?”

 

There it was. That voice again. The hallucinations were back. Wally took a breath in, turning toward the source of the voice, and was met with what appeared to be an actual human being. 

 

The man - hallucination - whatever he was - was dressed in a pair of blue tights with a white top and a  _ ridiculous _ popped collar, and judging by the wrinkles on his face, he was at least as old as Jay, if not older.  _ Okay, weird hallucination to be having, but let’s roll with it. _

 

“Um… no.” Wally shook his head, not moving an inch as he looked the man up and down. “Everything’s just fine.”

 

“You sure?” The man stepped closer. “Looks like you could need some help. I know a thing or two about speed.”

 

“I-I’m fine. Really, thank you. I need to be getting home.” Wally’s breath was shaky.

 

The hallucination nodded, a smirk teasing at his lips. “I know, kid. That’s why I’m here.”

 

“What- what are you…?” Wally leveled a finger at the man. “My personal Ghost of Christmas Past or something?”

 

The man chuckled in response, shrugging his shoulders. “Sure. If you want to look at it that way, you can. I have many names, but most people nowadays know me as Max Mercury.”

 

_ Max Mercury. Okay, this is definitely a creation of my subconscious. Stayed up too late one night watching sci-fi B-movies on TV. The ones with the robots cracking wise. _

 

The hallucination - Max - was relentless in his advance, taking another step closer to Wally. He was within arm’s reach now, and that good old fight-or-flight response was about to trip. Wally had two options, he could run, or he could fight. Running was his specialty, but Max was just as fast, if not faster than he was - although, given he was a hallucination, that point may as well have been moot.

 

So, he decided, he’d fight. His hands formed into fists, and he bent his knees, dropping into a fighting stance.

 

“Now, now.” Max wagged a finger. “None of that. I’m not your enemy.”

 

“Yeah, right,” Wally murmured, eyes trained on his opponent. 

 

“Please, Wally. Trust me, I’m here to help you,” Max replied, a calming lilt to his voice that somehow drained all the tension from Wally’s body. Did anything faze this… whatever he was?

 

Wally took a deep breath in, and then exhaled slowly, and then he did it again. He had so many-

 

“I know you have a lot of questions, and I promise they’ll all be answered in time.” Was this man a Martian or something? Right, he was a figment of Wally’s hyperactive imagination. Of course he could read minds.

 

“For now,” Max continued, “let’s get you home.”

 

“Yeah, right,” Wally scoffed. “As if you could ever get me home, seeing as you’re just a-”

 

“A hallucination?” He really needed to stop doing that. “Trust me, I am as real as you are. Now, take my hand.”

 

Wally glanced down at Max’s extended hand, reaching out his own shaky one to take it. It wouldn’t hurt to try, right? It wasn’t like he had any other options in this technicolor wasteland of a speed dimension.

 

“Good.” Max’s smile grew wider. “Are you up for a run?”

 

Wally smirked. “Always.”

 

“Then follow my lead.” And with that, Max took off, Wally in tow as the duo sped across a purple-hued pathway. After a few hundred miles, Max spoke up again. “You’re keeping pace nicely. Now, I take it this is your first time in the Speed Force?”

 

_ Speed Force, huh? Not the most creative name ever, but it works.  _ “Yeah. I-”

 

Max shook his head. “No need for lengthy explanations now. Got a loved one back home waiting for you?”

 

All of a sudden, Wally smiled, a grin lighting up his whole face. “I sure do.”

 

“Good. Anchor yourself to them, center your thoughts on being together with them again, and run. Run as fast as you can. I’ll lend you my speed.”

 

“Lend me-” Before Wally could finish his thought, he was off at twice the velocity, even the streams of energy around him becoming a blur. Sparks began to crackle at his feet, leaving a trail of silver lightning bolts behind him that weren’t there before.

 

_ Anchor myself… _ Wally pictured Artemis in his mind, all of her, from head to toe. He could hear her laugh, see the roll of her eyes when he did something stupid, feel the brush of her lips against his underneath the sheets.  _ I’ll be home soon, babe. I just need to focus. _

 

He focused on things like the way her hair framed her face, those beautiful dark locks that he couldn’t get enough of.  _ Dark locks… I guess as Tigress. Why am I…? _

 

Things like the way she interacted with the twins, that made his heart skip a beat.  _ Twins? But Don and Dawn aren’t even born yet… _

 

Things like… why couldn’t he remember what Lin-  _ Artemis. Her name is Artemis. _ Why couldn’t he remember more about Artemis? He loved her so much, and yet…  _ I love her. Isn’t that enough? Max said she’s my anchor. Just… gotta… push on… _

 

He picked up the pace, moving a little bit faster, pushing his limits once again. It was almost like he was back in the Arctic again, feeling that same feeling of slipping away. His molecules tore from the fabric of one reality into another, one by one.

 

Sunlight began to stream into his eyes. He could feel blades of grass tickle against his ankles, and the dirt compact underneath his feet. Birds were singing, accompanied by the sound of children laughing. He was home.  _ Just a little bit longer, babe. _

 

The trappings of the countryside seamlessly melded into those of Keystone City as he followed where his heart pulled him. He could smell the pollution from the steel mill, hear the honking of rush hour traffic. Not too much farther now. He could feel it.

 

Silver sparks continued to fly as he slowed down, coming to a stop right in front of a house in a subdivision on the outskirts of the city. A newer development, by the looks of things.  _ How long was I gone? Did Artemis get a new place? Did she- _

 

Wally’s heart sank as he started to walk up the drive toward the house, practicing his lines for when the inevitably-taken Artemis opened the door.  _ Look, Artemis, it’s me! Your ex who came back from the dead because he can’t get over you. Mind if I come in for some coffee? _

 

He rang the doorbell, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. “I’ll get it, honey!” came a cry from inside. The door opened, revealing a red-haired man, a few years Wally’s senior, wearing blue jeans and a Keystone City Police Department sweatshirt. A little girl with hair as equally as red as the man’s clung tightly to his chest, a quizzical look on her face.

 

“...Roy?” _ Artemis is dating Roy? That doesn’t even make sense. Why would she- and that’s not Lian. Who the hell is this man? _

 

“Roy?” The man laughed, setting the little girl down on the ground. “I’m afraid you have the wrong Titan. Do us gingers really look that much alike?”

 

_ Titan…? What was he on about? _

 

Before Wally could so much as get half a word out, the man had changed clothes entirely. And not just into any outfit, either. Into  _ Barry’s costume. _ How dare he! Unless…  _ had Barry died, too? _

 

“Wally West, I presume?” The man raised an eyebrow, chuckling as he extended a hand to shake, which Wally hesitantly accepted. “My name is Wally West. I’m the Flash, the Fastest Man Alive.”

 

Wally’s hand slipped from the man’s grip, his eyes going wide. He felt himself start to get dizzy and lose his footing, falling forward into the other man’s arms, which were already primed to catch him. His vision blurred for a moment, and then... the lights went out. Everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wally wakes up, and Linda's a horrible enabler.

Wally groaned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and looking up at the sight of… himself. Well, not himself. A hallucination of himself, or another himself, or something claiming to be him. He had a smile on his face and his arm around the shoulders of an Asian woman with a mug of coffee in her hand (not Vietnamese, and definitely not blonde, Wally noted) and the faintest hint of a five o’clock shadow that Wally couldn’t grow himself.

They were in a nice little suburban house, with an open floor plan Dick would admire and plenty of sofa space. The girl the other Wally (Wally would call him Other Wally, because why the hell not?) had scampered out of sight, although there were toys strewn about the floor in one corner of the living room.

Even though this was the first time he was seeing it, Wally had to admit that the place felt homey. Lived-in, like the apartment back in Palo Alto. But now to address the elephant in the room.

Wally sat up stared at Other Wally, Other Wally stared back. Wally put a hand up, Other Wally put his hand up to meet it. Wally frowned, and Other Wally’s expression fell to match. It was like one of those funhouse mirrors that Mirror Master liked to employ so much in his schemes. Was he behind this? Was this whole thing a mirror world fever dream?

He formed his hand into a fist, and the other Wally started to mimic him, only stopping because of a glance from the woman. “Honey, don’t,” she said, resting a hand on his thigh. “You’re going to give the poor boy a heart attack.”

“Fine,” Other Wally - if that was even his real name - admitted. “How’re you feeling, kid?”

“...Like I want to throw up and yet really hungry at the same time,” Wally replied, clutching at his forehead and frowning. “Also, I have a headache the size of Mount Justice.”

“First time in the Speed Force?” Other Wally chuckled as the woman slipped from his grasp, getting up from her seat and walking over toward the kitchen.

Wally just gave an nod in response, watching the woman carefully.

“That’ll do it. Are you getting- yep.” Other Wally grinned, following Wally’s gaze to the woman as she began carrying a pizza box over to their seat. Wally’s eyes went wide, and he started to salivate at the sight of it. “We know how to feed speedsters in this house, don’t you worry.”

The pizza was placed in Wally’s lap, and he wasted no time in scarfing the whole down, the hunger he hadn’t felt in the Speed Force now catching up to him. He could have sworn he’d never eaten such delicious pizza in his twenty years of existence, even though this was from some fast-food pizza place.

“...Is there more?” he asked, wiping the sauce off his lips with his sleeve, much to the disgust of the woman, who handed him a napkin from the coffee table.

Other Wally chuckled. “I’m afraid not… not yet, at least. Let me explain things first, and then maybe we’ll see what we can do.”

Wally gave a nod in response. An explanation would be really nice right now, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming this whole thing or trapped in some sort of hallucination caused by the Light. He waited with bated breath, glancing over at the front door. If anything seemed fishy, he’d run. He was good at that.

“So…” Other Wally started, wringing his hands together as he leaned toward his seeming counterpart. “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself to start off with?”

That question was innocent enough, and it wasn’t like Wally could give much away that they didn’t already know, given that Other Wally knew his secret identity right off the bat.

“My name’s Wally West, and I’m Kid Flash. I come from Blue Valley, Nebraska, I’m a senior at Stanford studying chemical engineering, and I ‘died’ destroying a machine that was going to doom the Earth and everyone on it.”

“Stanford, huh?” Other Wally raised an eyebrow. Was that a hint of… regret in his voice? “Impressive. How’d you manage that?”

“Oh, you know,” Wally replied with a shrug. “Test scores, being the Flash’s nephew-” He bit his tongue. Batman would kill him if he finished that thought… or at the very least, would give him a very stern talking-to.

“Being best friends with the heir to the Wayne fortune?” And then Other Wally finished it anyway. “Yeah, I know how that goes. Unfortunately, I was a little bit of a slacker when I was your age.”

“A little bit?” the woman asked, raising an eyebrow. “Now there’s the understatement of the century.”

“Shut up,” Other Wally replied, a grin teasing at the corners of his lips - one which the woman returned in kind.

“Make me, Mr. West,” she teased, pressing a hand to his chest and leaning closer.

“Oh, I gladly will, Mrs. West-”

“Ahem.” Wally cleared his throat, his cheeks a bright pink from that sudden burst of sexual tension.

“Ah, right, I knew I was forgetting something. Allow me to introduce my lovely wife, Linda Park,” Other Wally said, as Linda leaned forward and extended a hand to the younger Wally. “Although, if you’re here, I’m assuming you already know her, or a version of her, at the very least.”

Wally reached out his hand to meet Linda’s, but stopped just short, tilting his head to the side and squinting at her. No, he was sure he’d never seen this woman in his life. Unless she was on TV once? “I’m sorry, but I don’t-”

Other Wally frowned, holding his wife closer. “But you must have a Linda, otherwise you wouldn’t be here,” he argued. “She’s-”

“-his anchor, for when he gets lost in the Speed Force and needs to come home,” Linda finished, grinning up at him as she held up the pendant she was wearing, silver with a tiny anchor charm on the end. Anchor. There was that word again. Max had used it, and he’d ended up here because of it.

“You’re my anchor in more ways than one, baby,” Other Wally’s expression did a 180, a huge smile on his face, and he broke out laughing.

Wally narrowed his gaze, feeling like there was some sort of inside joke he wasn’t in on. “...What’s so funny?”

“I’m a news reporter,” Linda explained, and Wally’s lips formed an “o”. It was a pun. Talk about slow on the uptake. He’d have been all over that joke back home.

“The best news reporter,” Other Wally added, kissing her on the temple. If they were some sinister trick created by the Light, they were doing a very good job at hiding it and instead acting almost like he and Artemis would. Except for the obvious differences, the resemblance was really uncanny.

“You know I am,” Linda whispered back, quickly turning back to Wally before things could get too heated again. “So… if I’m not your anchor, then who is?”

Wally rubbed at the back of his neck, glancing away. “Her… her name is Artemis. Artemis Crock,” he whispered, his voice shaky as he tried to hold back tears. “I- I left her all alone and-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Other Wally replied, resting a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll get back to her, trust me. I’m not sure how you ended up here, might have to talk to Max and-”

Wally sniffled, suddenly knotting his brows together. “Max. He’s the one who got me here in the first place!” he said, clenching his fists and raising his voice at the couple. “If ‘here’ is even real. For all I know, you’re some trick Savage made to keep me away from her!”

“Savage?” Other Wally backed off, taking a deep breath in. “As in Vandal Savage? He’s involved in this?”

“You tell me. Is he?”

“Look, Wally. I’m real,” Linda said, placing a hand on top of his and offering a small smile. “Just… trust us for a little bit, okay? I know you’re scared and-”

“You don’t know me at all,” Wally huffed in response, pulling his hand away and crossing his arms.

“No, we don’t. The multiverse is a big place and all,” Other Wally said with a shrug.

At that, Wally perked up a bit. He hadn’t even considered the possibility of another universe. It was purely hypothetical, of course, but there were theories about the existence of universes outside his own. That would explain a lot… he’d go with it for now.

He gave a slight smile, releasing the tension from his shoulders. “I’m sorry…”

“There’s nothing to apologize fo-” Other Wally began to say, only to be interrupted by a chirping coming from a police scanner sitting on the end table. 

_“This is Sergeant Infantino, requesting backup at Iron Heights,”_ the voice came through the radio, cutting through the static. _“We have a 5-22, repeat, we have a 5-22.”_

5-22. Wally knew that code. That meant there had been- “A breakout,” both Wallys said at the same time, springing up from their seats. Finally, some action to take his mind off of things. 

Wally grabbed his cracked goggles from where they’d been set on the table, and started to strap them on, only for Other Wally to stop him with a firm hand on his shoulder. “Stay here. You’re in no condition to fight.” 

“But I can help!” he insisted, lowering the goggles over his eyes. It was bad enough Barry didn’t trust him to be useful, now his other self didn’t trust him, either? 

“I know you can,” Other Wally replied, having changed into his Flash costume - a near replica of Barry’s - in the moments in between words. Wow, he was fast, even for Flash standards. “But I can’t risk having to send you back to your Artemis in multiple pieces. So stay here, I’ll be back in a flash.” 

“Heh.” Wally gave a half-hearted smile at that particular turn of phrase, and slumped back down on the couch, watching as Wally kissed his wife goodbye and then headed out the door. 

“He’s right, you know.” Linda took a seat next to Wally on the couch, setting her coffee down on a coaster. She set a hand on the younger speedster’s shoulder, a painfully familiar smirk on her lips. God, she reminded him so much of Artemis… except without the arrows. Or the tragic backstory. And also older and more obviously Asian and-

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat, and Wally snapped back to reality, still not meeting her eyes. “My husband is right. You’re not going out crime-fighting-”

“No need to rub it in,” Wally muttered, deciding to stare down at the very interesting lack of a pattern on the carpet.

“Just let me finish,” Linda cut in, rolling her eyes. Wally had seen that move a thousand times from Artemis, too. “You’re not going crime-fighting… without a new costume. Can’t exactly keep wearing this one around.” For demonstration, she hooked a finger underneath the torn shoulder of his costume, tearing a larger rip in the yellow fabric halfway down his upper arm.

Wally reached up to cover the tear with his hand, unable to keep from smiling. She was right, the battle hadn’t exactly been kind to his suit, and he could go for an upgrade. “And where are we going to get me one of those?” he asked.

Linda smirked. “I know a guy in Central City who does real good work. He should be able to fit you in.”

“Alright, where to?” he replied, leaping up to his feet, his arms outstretched as if he was worried he’d fall right back down. He shook it off, took a breath in, and was ready to go in less than a heartbeat.

“Not so fast, mister,” Linda replied, just as Wally was about to scoop her up in his arms like any sane speedster would do. She pressed a finger to the tip of his nose, nudging him back and shaking her head. “We’re taking my car.”

“But-”

“No buts,” she said, wagging her index finger and demonstrating a will of steel that could exceed even Superman’s. If her Wally was anything like he was, he could see why he’d fallen for her so hard. He would have done the exact same. Maybe Wally Wests across the multiverse had a type.

“But-” Despite that, he still floundered about like a fish gasping for air.

Linda slung her purse over her shoulder, biting her lip and furrowing her brow as she rummaged through it for her car keys. She held them aloft triumphantly, grinning back at the younger Wally. “But you’re a speedster and can get there faster, I know. You also have no idea where you’re going and have never had to carry a working mother and two young children at the same time, I bet.”

Damn, she was good. It was almost as if she had years of experience with this kind of thing or something. He’d have to remember to let Artemis win more arguments if this was the end result. It would be good for both of them, even if he’d hate it in the moment. Like vegetables.

“So, let’s-” Linda began, only to be cut off, however, by the girl Wally had seen when he arrived running into the room, accompanied by a boy with dark hair who was about the same age. _Twins? Was this something that ran in the family?_

They bolted toward Linda, nearly tripping over each other’s feet as they did so. The girl was holding a one-armed Wonder Woman doll in one hand, keeping it far out of the reach of the boy, who had the doll’s other arm tight within his grasp.

“Mommy!” they shouted in unison, grabbing onto Linda’s pantlegs and attracting her attention. They both began talking at the same time, and Wally couldn’t make out a single word they were saying. Such motormouths. _Is this what Aunt Iris is going to have to deal with?_

Apparently, neither could their mother. “One at a time, please,” she said, kneeling down to meet their eye line and resting one hand on each child’s shoulder.

Both children started to talk again, but then the girl gave the boy a look that probably meant “do you want to get into even more trouble?”, and he immediately clammed up, letting his sister talk first.

“Mommy, Jai broke my doll!” the girl said, holding up the offending item for examination.

“Did not!” the boy - Jai - huffed back, crossing his arms and puffing up his chest to try to look more mature than he actually was.

“Did too!” the girl snapped at him, sticking out her tongue.

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did-”

“Enough,” Linda interrupted, looking between the twins as she turned the doll over in her hands. “Irey, tell me what happened.”

The girl gave a nod, choking back tears. “Well, I was playing Justice League, and Jai tried to take Wonder Woman but I said no and he kept pulling on it-”

Linda nodded in response, looking over at her son. “Is that true?”

Jai avoided his mother’s piercing gaze, mumbling under his breath.

“What was that?”

“Yeah,” Jai said, looking back at her. “But only because I wanted to play as a cool superhero. Irey only ever lets me be the lame ones!”

“Oh?” Linda stifled a chuckle, raising an eyebrow. “And who are the lame superheroes? I’m sure your father would love to know so he could tell them in person.”

“You know, like Blue Beetle or Aztek or Elongated Man,” Jai said, not yet having developed the social skills to get the hint to quit while he was ahead.

Ouch. If this world’s Ralph Dibny was anything like the one he was vaguely familiar with, he’d be both hurt and mildly amused to hear a Flash family member say he was lame.

“Blue Beetle is not lame!” Irey protested, glowering at her twin. “He’s so cool, he can fly and shoot lasers and stuff!”

“Not that Blue Beetle, the other one, the one with no powers!” Jai replied, rolling his eyes as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ted, on the other hand, Wally mused, would definitely be hurt by being called lame.

“Right.” Linda narrowed her eyes, holding out her hand for Jai to place the doll’s arm into. She placed both parts of the torn doll into her purse, looking between the children. “I’ll see if I can get Paul to sew this up, As for you two… Irey, be nice to your brother, and Jai, don’t call your father’s coworkers lame. They all do great work in their own ways.”

“Fine,” the two said, drawing out the word and hanging their heads in shame.

Wally had nothing but respect for Linda in that moment for the restraint she showed. He’d have been ready to punch someone if they called one of his teammates “lame”... although he probably wouldn’t to that to kids - unless they were Klarion - and definitely not to his kids. She was still impressive, though. Definitely a catch. Other Wally hit the freaking jackpot.

“Now get your shoes on,” Linda instructed, gesturing toward the mat by the door, where two pairs of kids’ running shoes lay next to a beaten-up pair of sneakers that Wally could only assume were Other Wally’s “I accidentally went too fast in these and now they’re toast” shoes. He should know, he had a pair just like them.

“Are we going somewhere?”Jai asked, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“Are we getting ice cream?” Irey chimed in.

“I’m taking our guest to get a new costume made,” Linda said, gesturing toward Wally. The kids looked over, looking like they weren’t quite sure what to think of him. (To be fair, he wouldn’t know what to think either if he was in their tiny shoes.)

“Bo-ring,” Jai said. “Can’t we just have Uncle Hartley come watch us?”

Uncle Hartley? The only “Hartley” Wally was aware of was one of Barry’s rogues, currently safely imprisoned at Belle Reve. Surely they couldn’t be referring to him, a Flash would never willingly associate himself with a Rogue if he had a choice.

“Yeah,” Irey said, giving a pout that Wally would have to nominate for ‘most adorable thing in the world’ later, if he remembered to. Unfortunately, it seemed like Linda was immune to its charms.

“Uncle Hartley is busy,” Linda told the kids, taking one of their hands in each of hers and ushering them toward the door. “But maybe if you’re good, we can get ice cream afterwards.”

At that, the kids smiled, scrambling to get their shoes on. Linda looked back over her shoulder at Wally and smirked. “You too. If you’re anything like my husband, you love ice cream. Am I right?”

“So right,” Wally said, following them out the door at a reasonable, human walking pace, and to the sedan parked in the driveway. This was almost surreal, reminding him of nothing more than his childhood spent with Aunt Iris. She’d sneak him out for treats like this all the time, especially when her bore of a boyfriend Barry wasn’t around. (In hindsight, Barry wasn’t really boring, he was just good at acting that way to cover his tracks. It was really quite impressive.)

The car radio began to blast some children’s song about a shark, but much to the disappointment of the twins in the back seat, Linda wasted no time in switching the radio over to coverage of the breakout.

_“This is John Broome, reporting for KKEY. The Flash is currently involved in a heated battle with seven of Keystone’s most dangerous metahuman criminals, who escaped from Iron Heights Penitentiary just hours ago. We advise that all citizens stay inside until further notice.”_

Wally shot Linda a look of worry. In response, Linda slammed on the gas, and they took off down the highway, heading away from the battle and toward Central City. “Looks like ice cream might have to wait,” she said. “We have no time to waste.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: The battle begins, and Wally gets a new look that might be familiar to some of you comic readers out there.


End file.
